No sad song for Bonneville at CWOSSA

Bill Doucet, Times Staff

St. David Celtics Chance Mutuku has Monsignor Doyle’s Josh Polasz wrapped up during their gold medal match in the 64 kg division at Wednesday’s OFSAA wrestling qualifier at St. Benedict Catholic Secondary School. Mutuku ended up winning the match, but Polasz still advanced to OFSAA as the second seed in the division.

No sad song for Bonneville at CWOSSA

Bill Doucet, Times Staff

Zac Berry, wrestling independently at CWOSSA though he attends Waterloo-Oxford school, gets Monsignor Doyle's Alex Nguyen in a precarious position during their gold medal match at the OFSAA qualifier on Wednesday.

No sad song for Bonneville at CWOSSA

Bill Doucet, Times Staff

Our Lady of Lourdes Nicole Hare has Monsignor Doyle's Kayla Pereira vulnerable during their gold medal match at the OFSAA qualifier on Wednesday. Pereira came back in the second round to pin Hare.

Don’t go messin’ with a country boy. That was the message Dalton Bonneville sent at the OFSAA wrestling qualifier on Wednesday at St. Benedict Catholic Secondary School.

The 19-year-old District 8 champion in the 89-kg group – who likes listening to Toby Keith to get pumped up and wears his half cork John Deere hat to his meets – was all business in the gold medal match, headlocking JF Ross’s Brandon Duma and throwing him to the mat like a steer, before pinning him in a minute’s time to punch his ticket to OFSAA, March 6-7 in Guelph.

It was the super 12’s second trip to provincials after qualifying in Grade 11 the first time. He finished with two wins and two losses.

“I’m looking to do better,” said a winded Bonneville after the match.

“I didn’t have as much experience then, so I have a couple more years now.”

His only other trip to OFSAA came after he’d only wrestled for a year. There was a smaller field of opponents this year with 17 schools and 165 wrestlers, before scratches, showing up to qualify (down about 75 participants) and Bonneville dominated.

“I’ve been training a lot harder and practicing every day. I don’t waste time in practice and I just go hard,” he said.

Bonneville knows OFSAA, which again probably won’t carry the most elite field, will be tough, as he will face opponents he’s never seen before due to his lack of experience at provincials. But he has a game plan that he won’t deviate from.

“I just like to stick with what I know. I don’t know how they wrestle and they don’t know how I wrestle.

“One of my goals is to get to the second day and if I can, just get a medal. But there are people there who have been wrestling their whole lives and have more experience than me.”

The easiest part of OFSAA for him might be what hat to wear.

“Oh, I’m taking this one,” he said.

While Bonneville was helping carry on the tradition of Doyle’s domination – they won the team standings with 98 points – Kayla Pereira was making history.

The super 12 student became the first female wrestler to make it to OFSAA from Monsignor Doyle, beating Our Lady of Lourdes Geese Lea Roberts in the gold medal match.

In the past, Doyle only had a boys’ team under Chris Lowry, but this year a girls’ team was started by former St. Mary’s teacher Richard Remillard.

About 12 girls’ showed up at the start of the season, but that number quickly dwindled. Principal Chris Woodcroft decided to continue the program, with only Pereira and Miranda Rebelo returning.

Rebelo came second at the qualifier, but lost to Maddison Braga in a challenge match for the final OFSAA spot in the 54 kg division.

Pereira made life easy for herself, pinning Roberts in the second round, after being behind in the first round.

“It feels just unreal. I was pumped,” said Pereira.

It was a great match, a tough fight. I was just so happy to win...

“The fact that we now finally have a girls’ wrestling team at Doyle is amazing.”

Pereira admitted she only had basic wrestling training coming into this year, learning a few holds and throws while studying Muay Thai and Brazilian ju-jitsu.

Despite the win, Pereira’s OFSAA road ended at the qualifier, as she’s scheduled for knee surgery today. The 18 year old hurt her knee while longboarding in September and didn’t want to cancel the surgery because she wouldn’t be rescheduled for another three months.

“I think that would be an awesome experience,” she said.

“You get so far first year and then you have to stop. I’m surprised I placed first and beat everybody because my opponents are tough.”

Also heading to OFSAA from Monsignor Doyle are Alex Nguyen (47.5 kg), Josh Polasz (64 kg), James Tucker (95 kg) and Lucas Rosa (UNL). Sarah Fournier (77 kg) of St. Benedict, was the second female to qualify for OFSAA from the school.